Downsizing, upswing, cancellation At two secret meetings on 16 and 18 November 1959, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Twining, recommended the Air Forces plan for the B-70 to reconnoiter and strike rail-mobile Soviet ICBMs, but the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General White, admitted the Soviets would be able to hit the B-70 with rockets and requested the B-70 be downgraded to a bare minimum research and development program at $200 million for fiscal year 1960. President Eisenhower responded that the reconnaissance and strike mission was crazy since the nuclear mission was to attack known production and military complexes, and emphasized he saw no need for the B-70 since the ICBM is a cheaper, more effective way of doing the same thing. Eisenhower also identified that the B-70 would not be in manufacturing until eight to ten years from now and said he thought we were talking about bows and arrows at a time of gunpowder when we spoke of bombers in the missile age. In December 1959 the Air Force announced the B-70 project would be cut to a single prototype, and most of the planned B-70 subsystems would no longer be developed. Then interest increased due to the politics of presidential campaign of 1960. A central plank of John F. Kennedys campaign was that Eisenhower and the Republicans were weak on defense, and pointed to the B-70 as an example. He told a San Diego audience near NAA facilities, I endorse wholeheartedly the B-70 manned aircraft. Kennedy also made similar campaign claims regarding other aircraft: near the Seattle Boeing plant he affirmed the need for B-52s and in Fort Worth he praised the B-58. The Air Force changed the program to full weapon development and awarded a contract for an XB-70 prototype and 11 YB-70s in August 1960. In November 1960, the B-70 program received a $265 million appropriation from Congress for FY 1961. Nixon, trailing in his home state of California, also publicly endorsed the B-70, and on 30 October Eisenhower helped the Republican campaign with a pledge of an additional $155 million for the B-70 development program. On taking office in January 1961, Kennedy was informed that the missile gap was an illusion. On 28 March 1961, after $800 million had been spent on the B-70 program, Kennedy canceled the project as unnecessary and economically unjustifiablebecause it stood little chance of penetrating enemy defenses successfully.Instead, Kennedy recommended the B-70 program be carried forward essentially to explore the problem of flying at three times the speed of sound with an airframe potentially useful as a bomber. After Congress approved $290 million of B-70 add-on funds to the Presidents 12 May 1960 modified FY 1961 budget, the Administration decided on a Planned Utilization of only $100 million of these funds. The Department of Defense subsequently presented data to Congress that the B-70 would add little performance for the high cost. However, after becoming the new Air Force Chief of Staff in July 1961, Curtis LeMay increased his B-70 advocacy, including interviews for August Readers Digest and November Aviation Week articles, and allowing a 25 February General Electric tour at which the press was provided artist conceptions of, and other info about, the B-70. Congress had also continued B-70 appropriations in an effort to resurrect bomber development. After Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara explained again to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) on 24 January 1962 that the B-70 was unjustifiable, LeMay subsequently argued for the B-70 to both the House and Senate committees—and was chastised by McNamara on 1 March. By 7 March 1962, the HASC—with 21 members having B-70 work in their districts—had written an appropriations bill to direct—by law—the Executive Branch to use all of the nearly $500 million appropriated for the RS-70. McNamara was unsuccessful with an address to the HASC on 14 March, but a 19 March 1962 11th hour White House Rose Garden agreement between Kennedy and HASC chairman Carl Vinson retracted the bills language and the bomber remained canceled. r/max
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 21:00:02 +0000
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